We’re so excited to be hosting EduCon again at Science Leadership Academy! The conference will be January 25-27 (the weekend between the conference playoffs and the Super Bowl… even if it doesn’t look like the Eagles will be participating) and we’re thrilled with the proposals we’ve seen so far!

Calls for proposals for sessions are due on November 1st. EduCon sessions are discursive, where people play with big ideas, build things, write things, do things. The idea is that the model of our sessions at the conference model the kind of learning that we want to see in our classrooms.

If you’ve never been to EduCon, make this year the year you attend. If you’ve been and found the conversations powerful, make this the year you facilitate a conversation of your own. What’s that big pedagogical question you’ve been grappling with? How could you bring that question to a group of educators who are thinking through similar questions? What would a structured conversation around these ideas that would allow us to all go back to our classrooms with a new lens on these challenges look like?

Join us. Propose a conversation. Register. Be part of the #EduCon experience.

Share this:

Like this:

This song has been on my mind a lot lately — not just the verses they teach in elementary school, but all the verses. It strikes me that this song, in many ways, speaks to the heart of the divide in this country. If you believe that America is for all — that the promise and dream and hope of what this country can be is meant for all who live here, then I don’t know how you aren’t horrified by the actions of America’s current government. If you don’t believe that the dream of America is for everyone, then you probably want to make sure that you and your family get yours and that the easiest way to do that is to make sure that the door slams shut in front of anyone who isn’t already here or who already hasn’t gotten their piece of the pie — and if those folks happen to be black or brown or Muslim or Jewish, well, they aren’t the folks America was built for anyway.

To say that this country is flawed is to state the obvious. To say that we started this country with a beautiful dream and then immediately defined who would have access to that dream and who would not is to simply acknowledge history.

But this country’s history is also filled with those who have fought to make the best parts of America’s dream a reality for a greater number of people. A nation born of promise has seen generation after generation of activists fight to make that promise a reality — to hold America to its best ideals, not the worst of its sins.

Today is a difficult day for a lot of folks in America. For while we can celebrate the best of what we are, it is important for us to also recognize all the work we have left to do — and how hard that work feels in this particular moment in time.

But the legacy of activism and struggle for equal rights, for equal opportunity, for the very recognition of shared humanity is as much a part of our country’s history as anything you may find in the history books. And today is a great day to remind ourselves that this is the nation of Woody Guthrie and Upton Sinclair, of Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner, and of the activists of today who believe in the idea that we can be a more far more perfect union than we are today.

I believe in that more perfect union. I believe that is what Woody Guthrie wrote about when he penned This Land is Your Land. And I hope – because I still hope – that we can understand that everyone deserves a chance to walk that freedom highway.

Happy 4th of July. May we live up to the best ideals of our nation.

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Share this:

Like this:

Science Leadership Academy lost Class of 2011 alumnus Brandon Williams today. Brandon battled sickle cell his entire life, and today, he ran out of time in that fight.

Brandon was an amazing young man. He was an incredibly deep thinker who could galvanize a classroom with his ideas. He was a wonderful athlete who was captain of our baseball team. He was a beautiful musician who loved nothing more than to share his gift on the piano with others.

Brandon was such a valued member of the SLA community, both during his time in school and after. He came back to school as our assistant baseball coach, and he freely gave of his time, mentoring current students who also suffer from sickle cell.

And my God, was Brandon tough. When I say that he battled, he fought so hard. He pitched for SLA’s baseball team with a picc line in his chest. He was the first student at SLA to leverage the WiFi at Children’s Hospital so that he could Skype into classes. And no matter how much pain he was in, he never let sickle cell stop him from his goals.

If you came to SLA in our early days, there was a good chance you met Brandon. He was one of the Office Kids of SLA, one of those kids who was often in the office on a free period or during lunch, so he gave plenty of tours, interviewed dozens of students, and just always looked to give back. He and I had so many conversations in my office about every topic imaginable. And he was every bit as at home talking with adults as he was with his classmates. And he was loved by teachers and students alike – and most definitely by me.

I have said this over and over about the teaching life — we get to spend our lives with these amazing young men and women. They share their lives with us, and for all the work we do to try to have a positive impact on our students’ lives, there is no question of the incredibly powerful, profound and positive effect they have on ours. I am better for having known Brandon. He was simply one of the finest, kindest souls to walk our halls.

He deserved far more time than he got, and the world was robbed of his presence far too soon. I – and all who knew him – will miss him terribly.